Android Gaming

Are there any android OS users out there who know of good games for the platform? I have done the SNES emulator and a smattering of other games and they all seem clunky. I've also looked through the Market Place. I'm hoping somebody knows of a "diamond in the rough" for me to mess around with on my pending 600 mile train rides.

From what Ive seen Gameloft has some decent games (for non-mobile type games on a mobile platform). I dont think any of them are on the store though. You have to goto gameloft.com from your phone and download from there but most of them have free trials.

I've been enjoying "Tower Raid" lately, it's my first real tower defense game and I'm hooked. Downloaded Zenonia as well but haven't gotten into it much yet (RPG type thing). Abduction is fun and quick, will likely get boring very quickly.Asphalt 5 came with my phone and I've played one level, the graphics aren't bad but it's a little twitchy for a driving game, I likely just need more practice.Angry Birds is awesome, can't wait for the full version.

I'd like to hook a Wii classic controller up by bluetooth for the SNES games, I'll look into that more later.

Yeah, Android gaming is a vast wasteland. I'm not sure what the deal is - there are plenty of devices in users' hands, and the hardware from the Droid up is at least iPhone 3GS-class, so there should be plenty of ports. The number of hardware configurations to test against could be an issue, as could the Snapdragon (which has no iPhone equivalent), but I don't think that would be enough.

It could be the Market - there's the 24 hr. return policy, the ease of piracy (compared to the iPhone, which isn't exactly piracy-free either), and the lack of an official desktop/web client (iTunes is a really slick platform for marketing games, compared to the limited list-based approach on Android devices).

It could also be the avalanche of crap listed under games on the Market (no, I don't need a sliding puzzle of a girl in lingerie, let alone 30 of them), but I can't imagine that the iPhone doesn't have the same problem (though, as I mentioned, iTunes really gives publishers an opportunity to cut through and get noticed).

I don't understand the issue, but whatever it is, the major publishers need to get Google to straighten it out, because they're leaving money on the table.

The game scene is somewhat spartan at the moment. Ngmoco, Popcap and even EA are all saying soon. OpenFeint recently released their platform so i'd expect more things from them as well.

The market really needs some inteface and usability work. Being able to filter even by rating would be very useful. Also clearing out some of the more blatant crapware. There seems to be a trend at the moment to release a game, often an NES title, that is running in some weird emulator/ad wrapper.

It could be the Market - there's the 24 hr. return policy, the ease of piracy (compared to the iPhone, which isn't exactly piracy-free either), and the lack of an official desktop/web client (iTunes is a really slick platform for marketing games, compared to the limited list-based approach on Android devices).

I think it is the Market as Gameloft bypassed the Market for their own store and EA seems to be hinting at the same. I'm not sure it's due to those reasons you mentioned.

wow that tower raiders game is buggy as dick tits. keeps locking up on my vibrant.

I'm with you there. It's 5 bucks. I played about 45 minutes and out of nowhere it threw up some weird error, then basically reset me to a round 35 minutes previously. No thanks. I never expected to do a refund on anything, but I immediately got my money back.

I downloaded Robo Defense on my Incredible to give it a try and ugh. It looks like it was made by a 3rd grader in comparison to anything I've downloaded for my iTouch. Show me something with the simple style of geoDefense or the pure awesomeness of Space Miner.

Hmm? I have Angry Birds beta installed on my 2.1 Vibrant. Personally found the game boring but I can why people like it.

where did you find it?

i've tried the barcode thing and it takes me to a "not found" screen in the store, and i try to search for angry birds in the store and it brings up some trash crap like a theme and some other garbage i guess using the keywords to aim people to it.

I've only found a handful of good games, but they are mostly recently-released games, I think:

The Inferno (also on iPhone) -- free, fun, high qualityUniwar (also on iPhone, WinMo) -- I think $3, high quality TBSAngry Birds Beta -- I had never played this game before, but it's definitely well-made (after they fixed the crash-on-load bug). I'm just really bad at it...Guns 'n Glory -- only played free version, but it's well-made and fun. It's essentially a tower defense game set in the 'Wild West,' with a twist -- you can move your 'towers' (who are bandits, 'Indians,' etc). Antigen -- free, pretty fun. Not much to it, though.Buka -- only played the Lite version, but it's well-made and the gameplay is decent.

People rave about "Alchemy" but I think it's shit. Totally pointless. If there were more rationale between the combinations I would be able to appreciate it, but there isn't really.

Anyhow, what IS clear is that higher quality games are starting to trickle out, and we can probably expect a deluge of great games -- initially iPhone ports -- within a few months.

oh well. maybe it'll show up sometime but apparently either my vibrant or tmobile doesn't want me to try the game.

Quote:

Anyhow, what IS clear is that higher quality games are starting to trickle out, and we can probably expect a deluge of great games -- initially iPhone ports -- within a few months.

i'm not so sure. with a totally ballsed out fractured hardware base and a schizophrenic app store i really don't expect android to get too much in the way of high quality games. ios sure but they have a cogent strategy. google doesn't really have a strategy from what i've seen. i like the phone and android is fine for web browsing/texting/calling but for games and high end applications, no way. it's a desert out there.

AppBrain is frequently recommended because it's awesome -- Google doesn't have a half-decent web front-end for the Market, and AppBrain has filled that gap. It makes filtering, organizing and categorizing app searches way easier than is currently possible with the Market app. Plus it can do things like offer app recommendations based on your current apps and install apps from a web interface (not in the same way as Chrome-to-Phone) (and more I'm probably not thinking of). It's almost silly NOT to use it once you learn about it. It doesn't replace the Market -- it just greatly enhances it.

I downloaded the Snesoid emulator and a Rom search, cost me a total of 5 bucks I think and I can download as many SNES roms as I want onto my SD card. All the great games - FF3, Zelda, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Super Mario World, Mario Cart, Street Fighter 2 Turbo... it's awesome.